October 2001

Release Date: October 8, 2001

Five outstanding alumni, an honorary alumnus and a former university professor will be honored by the Angelo State University Alumni Association during Homecoming 2001's Wells Fargo Alumni Scholarship Dinner Friday, Oct. 19.

The honorees are James L. Powell of Fort McKavett as Honorary Alumnus; Landel C. Hobbs, Class of 1984, of New York as Distinguished Alumnus; Phillip Templeton, Class of 1947, of San Angelo as Distinguished Alumnus; Kitty M. So, Class of 1990, of Manhattan Beach, Calif., as Distinguished Carr Scholar Alumnus; Col. Ronnie D. Hawkins Jr., Class of 1977, of Honolulu as Distinguished ROTC Alumnus; Ralph W. Wilson, Class of 1947, of San Angelo as Golden Ex of the Year; and Dr. Otto W. Tetzlaff of Kingwood as Distinguished Retired Faculty Member.

All will be recognized at the Wells Fargo Alumni Scholarship Dinner at 7 p.m. Oct. 19, in the C.J. "Red" Davidson Conference Center in the Houston Harte University Center on the ASU campus. Tickets cost $15 each and are available by contacting the ASU Alumni Association at (325) 942-2122.

JAMES L. POWELL

A native of San Angelo, James L. Powell is a rancher with holdings in Schleicher, Sutton, and Menard counties of Texas and in Nebraska. He raises registered Hereford and commercial Angus cattle. He has been active in numerous ranching and agricultural organizations, including the National Wool Growers Association and Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association, both of which he served as president, and the National Cattleman's Association.

He was a member of the advisory committee for the Packers and Stockyards Administration, USDA, from 1960 to 1964. In 1975, Powell was named a member of the Secretary of Agriculture's Technical Advisory Committee for Multilateral Trade Negotiations.

Powell served from 1971-79 on the Board of Regents, Texas State University System, ASU's governing board, including a term as chairman. Powell received a bachelor's degree from Rice University in 1951 and did graduate work at the University of Texas in Austin. He served as lieutenant junior grade in the US Navy from 1952 to 1954.

He is a recipient of the Outstanding Conservationist Award from the Eldorado-Divide Soil and Water Conservation District and the "Man of the Year in Texas Agriculture" award from the Texas County Agents Association. He was named 1987 "Man of the Year in Texas Agriculture" by Progressive Farmer magazine. In 1990, he was inducted into the International Stockman's School Hall of Fame.

Powell and his wife, the former Nancy Hunt, have two daughters, Lorrie Powell Uhl and Victoria Powell Johnson and five grandchildren.

LANDEL C. HOBBS

As vice-president for financial analysis and operations support at AOL Time Warner, Landel C. Hobbs oversees budgeting, financial forecasts, operational analysis and profit improvement for the corporation's various divisions, including AOL, Warner Brothers, Time Warner Cable, Warner Music, Time, Inc., HBO, Turner Broadcasting, New Line Cinema and the WB Network.

Before assuming his current position, he was the senior vice-president, controller, and chief accounting officer at Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., in Atlanta where he joined Turner Broadcasting in 1993. Ultimately, he oversaw risk management, financial reporting, treasury, shared services, tax, accounts payable, payroll, purchasing, credit and long range planning responsibilities. While at Turner, he improved the timeliness and quality of financial reporting and the shared services in the payroll area as well as implemented staff counseling and career development programs. Hobbs' services were vital to the company during the Y2K transition. He and his team worked diligently to make sure that all TBS systems would continue to function well into the new year.

Prior to joining Turner Broadcasting, Hobbs was senior vice-president and audit director for BancOne Illinois Corp. in Chicago. His job was to oversee the internal audit group that focused on real estate, acquisitions, and mergers. Hobbs was also a senior manager for KPMG Peat Marwick from 1984 to 1990.

He is a native of Fort Worth. He has always been supportive of the arts, including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Woodruff Arts Center.

PHILLIP TEMPLETON

Phillip Templeton spent almost 50 years in the construction business in San Angelo, starting out in partnership with his father and brother in Templeton Construction. During that time, the firm would be responsible for many of San Angelo's landmark buildings and facilities.

The Templetons built more major buildings in San Angelo than any other contractor. The list of projects includes San Angelo Stadium, Lee Junior High School and the San Angelo Convention Center as well as more recent projects like the Karen Stribling Unidad Park, the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, Southland Baptist Church Sanctuary, the First United Methodist Church major addition and Lake View High School. Ongoing projects include the Tom Green County Jail, the Junell Center/Stephens Arena at ASU, the Corps of Engineers student dormitories at Goodfellow Air Force Base and the First Baptist Church Education Building.

Templeton began his freshman year at the new San Angelo College Campus in 1947 and went on to attend the University of Texas at Austin where he received a degree in Industrial Engineering. After serving in the army during the Korean War from 1952 to 1954, Templeton returned home to the construction business with his brother.

Under Templeton's supervision, the company won several awards over the years, including the West Texas Chapter AIA 25 Year Award for the San Angelo Independent School District Football Stadium in 1990. In 1998, he received the Who's Who Among American Builders, Contractors and Designers Award of Excellence and a Construction Management Association of America Project Achievement Award. In 1999, he was honored with a Texas Construction Magazine Best of Architecture Award for his outstanding architectural design on Southland Baptist Church.

He is a past president of the Northwest Texas Chapter Association of General Contractors. He served on the University of Texas School of Architecture Advisory board, San Angelo Historical Preservation Commission and San Angelo Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, among others.

KITTY M. SO

Kitty M. So, a certified public accountant, is director of finance and banking for Davita Inc., in Torrance, Calif. Her job responsibilities include maintaining relationships with the company's banking syndicate and ensuring compliance with credit facility agreements, both external and internal constituents, as well as ensuring adequate cash to meet operating needs while minimizing the cash on hand. This year So was part of the team that completed a refinancing of DaVita's credit facilities by replacing the existing facility with a $400 million senior secured credit facility and a $225 million senior subordinated debt offering.

Prior to joining Davita, So worked as a senior auditor for Arthur Anderson & Co. in Dallas from 1990 to 1993. She joined Pepsi-Cola Co. in 1993, first as a senior international auditor with PepsiCo, Inc., performing the financial and operational audits in PepsiCo's international operations, including the $8 billion divisions of snack foods, restaurants and beverages. She was promoted in 1995 to international planning manager for the Greater China Business Unit in Hong Kong.

In 1997, So enrolled in the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration. At Harvard, she was elected section treasurer and was selected by faculty to conduct financial accounting review sessions for first-year students. So was a member of the Finance Club, Asia Business Club, Texas Club, Women's Students Association, Volleyball Club, and member of the intramural basketball, volleyball, and soccer teams. So graduated from Harvard with her master's degree in business administration in 1999.

Previously in 1990, she had graduated from ASU magna cum laude with her bachelor's degree in business administration. During her three years at ASU, she was elected to Alpha Lamda Chi Honor Society, Student Senate and Treasurer of Delta Sigma Pi. She was a freshman redshirt for the ASU volleyball team and traveled two years as a statistician.

COL. RONNIE D. HAWKINS

Col. Ronnie D. Hawkins, Jr., is the director of communications and information, Headquarters Pacific Air Forces at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. He serves as chief information officer and is responsible for establishing and promulgating communications, information and postal policy for the Pacific Air Forces and units in Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and at other Air Force locations throughout the Pacific region.

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A 1977 ASU graduate with a bachelor of business administration degree in computer science, Hawkins was the corps commander for ASU's ROTC Detachment and ran track for ASU on the 1975, 1976 and 1977 Lone Star Conference track champion teams.

After entering active duty in 1978, he began to advance through the ranks, serving as the computer systems analyst in the Strategic Air Command at Offutt AFB, Neb.; completing Squadron Officer School as a distinguished graduate at Maxwell AFB, Ala.; and serving as chief of the data automation division with the 96th Bomb Wing and then chief of the Operations Division with the 1993rd Information Systems Squadron at Dyess AFB in Texas. He was promoted to captain in 1982.

He earned a master of science degree in management and human relations at Abilene Christian University in 1985. Among his subsequent assignments, he was executive officer to the Superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs where he was promoted to major. After an assignment at the Pentagon he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and, after earning a master of science degree in national resources strategy, he was promoted to colonel.

Hawkins has received numerous military decorations, including medals for Defense Superior Service, Defense Meritorious Service, Air Force Commendation, National Defense Service and Armed Forces Expeditionary award. He has also received two awards for Air Force Outstanding Unit and for Air Force Recognition.

DR. OTTO W. TETZLAFF

In 1969 Dr. Otto W. Tetzlaff joined Angelo State University as an associate professor and head of the Modern Languages Department. He served on the ASU faculty until his retirement in 1999, when the TSUS Board of Regents named him a distinguished professor emeritus of German.

In 1971 he was promoted to professor. From 1973 to 1975, Dr. Tetzlaff was the Texas Chapter President of the American Association of Teachers of German. In 1989, he accepted the Fulbright Commission Post-Doctoral Fellowship and participated in the Landeskunde Seminar on German reunification in Germany. In 1991, Tetzlaff he was named a Minnie Stevens Piper Professor, the most prestigious award presented to faculty at Texas universities.

He served as vice president of the Texas Foreign Language Association and for three years on the J. William Fulbright Scholarship Board Selection Committee. Upon his retirement, Tom Green County Commissioners honored him by designating Sept. 20, 1999, as Dr. Otto Tetzlaff Day.

Born in Norenberg, Germany, Tetzlaff immigrated to the U.S. and began working in export sales, cost accounting and general accounting from 1951 to 1955. He served in the U.S. Army and began his college work after he was discharged. He acquired his U.S. citizenship in 1960 and two years later earned a bachelor of arts degree from Northern Illinois University with specializations in general science, math, German and Latin.

In 1963, he acquired a master of arts degree from the University of Illinois with a concentration in Germanic languages and literature and Latin. From 1963 to 1965, Tetzlaff was a German and Latin instructor at Northern Illinois University. In 1966, he accepted the National Defense Education Act, Title VI, Fellowship for Dutch languages for two years. Tetzlaff received his Ph.D. in Germanic languages and literatures and Latin at the University of Texas at Austin in 1968. He taught German and Latin at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and University before coming to ASU.

Dr. Tetzlaff and his wife, Hettie, have three grown children and live in Kingwood, Texas.

RALPH W. WILSON

Ralph Wilson is a retired San Angelo attorney who has been active in numerous civic organizations. Born in Sweetwater in 1919, Wilson moved to San Angelo in the summer of 1932, at the age of 13. He attended San Angelo schools and is an alumnus of San Angelo College. He earned his law degree from the Southern Methodist University Law School.

He practiced law in San Angelo for many years before retiring in 1969. He was active in the Tom Green County Bar Association.

During his career, he was a member of numerous civic, educational and philanthropic organizations, including the ASU Alumni Association Board of Directors, Baptist Memorial Hospital Auxiliary, and the Kiwanis Club. He has also been a member of the Baptist Memorial Board of Directors and First National Bank Board, both for more than twenty years. He has served as chairman of the Woolworth Scholarship Fund. Wilson has been a longstanding member of the First Baptist Church, serving as a deacon for more than 45 years. He has served the church as chairman of the board and currently serves as chairman of the trustees.

Wilson's active civic leadership role has included serving as an elected San Angelo City Commissioner. He is a past member of the Lake Nasworthy Advisory Board, Board of City Development, Community Chest Board (United Way), Tom Green County Library Board, Credit Bureau, YMCA, Literacy Council and Concho Valley Council of Boy Scouts.

Ralph Wilson still resides in San Angelo with his wife, Elene, formerly Elene Rickabaugh. They have three children, Barbara, Marilyn and Carolyn.